Winding-mechanism indicator



Patented Feb. 8, 1927.;

LOUIS HILL, OF AKRON, OHIO.

WINDING-MECI-IAN ISM INDICATOR.

Application filed December 15, 1923. Serial .No. 680,805.

My invention relates to winding mecha- 'nism indicators, and is suitable for use upon talking machines and analogous devices, in which a spring is wound by hand' and in which it is desirable to constantly indicate the changing condition of the winding spring.

More particularly stated. my invention comprehends a windingmechanism indicator so constructed and arranged that the operator can ascertain at a glance to what eX- tent the spring mechanism used for driving the machine has run down, the indication be ing registered practically in spring pressure as well as in the number of turns of the winding crank necessary to completely rewind the mechanism. 7 7

Reference is made to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and in which: like reference characters indicate like parts throughout all of the figures.

' Figure l is a fragmentary rearview, be-

ing partly an elevation and partly a section of a winding mechanism provided with my device and forming a part of a talking ma chine.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan, showing a portion of the mechanismappearing in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1, looking in the direction indicated by the; arrows.

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1, looking in the direction indicated by the 1 arrows.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary elevation of a dial and pointer used for registering the indications.

Figure 6 is an inverted plan or bottom view of a worm wheel and parts immediate ly associated therewith appearing in Figures 1 and 3. v i

The inner surface of the front wall of a talkingmachine cabinet appears at 7, and at S is a base plate.

Extending: upwardly from the base plate 8 is a metallic standard 9, provided with a foot 10, this foot being secured rigidly to the base board.

The standard 9 is provided with'a bearing 11. Extending through this bearing and supported thereby is a shaft 12. Mounted rigidly upon the. shaft 12 is thehand crank 13, used for -winding the spring mechanism,

in the usual manner.

The shaft 12 is provided with teeth 14,

as indicated in Figure2, and'mounted adjacent these teeth is a pawl 15. A spring16 presses thepawl against the teeth, so asto prevent retrograde rotation ,ofthe shaft. The shaft carries agear wheel 17, and this gear wheel engages a large gear. 18 of annu lar form. The gear 18 is mounted upon and supported by a casing member 19, inside of which is the motor spring 194.

A shaft 20 carries the casing member .19, c and extends through the same "andalso v through another casing member 2 1, the latter carryinga'large gear member 22 of an" nular form. The casing member 19 is revoluble relatively to the shaft 20. and the casing 21 is rigid relatively to this shaft, and thus revoluble therewith relatively to the base plate 8. The parts 19 to 22 inclusive, being'oldand wellknown, are here shown conventionally. They are so arranged that when the crank 13 is turned byhand, in the manner well known in this art, the rotation of the gear wheel 17 causes positive rotation of the annular gear member 18 and easing member 19, thus winding the motor spring 19 This spring by its tension causes the casing member 21 and the annular gear member 22 to turn, in the same directionas the casing member 19 .and the annulargear member 18, so as to allow the spring to unwlnd slowly, as the driven mechanism; is

actuated.

Wheel 23 is secured I revoluble with a flexible shaft 24.,which exlow cylinder, as maybe-understood from Figure 1.

The gearwheel 23 is secured rigidly upon and revoluble with a flexible shaft 27, which rigidly upon and carries a pinion 28. and extends through a a.

wearing sleeve 30, forming a part of a hearing' 31. This bearing 1s secured upon the inner face of the cabinet wall 7 by means of screws 32.

A worm 33, having the general form of smooth portion 36. -Theportions 35 and 36am essentially journal necks,

The worm 33'carries a pinion 3 whereby it is driven. .This pinion engages the pinion 28, carried by the flexible shaft 27.- The worm 34 is provided with a pinion which it is turned, this pinion engaging and being driven by a pinion 39, securedby means of a key 29 upon the flexible shaft24, and thus revoluble with this shaft.

' Two spindles 40 and 41 engage the ad upon a short shaft 46.

j acent ends ofthe worms 33 and 34, and thus serve as bearings for supporting the same. These two conical ended spindles are carriedby a plate 42, the latter being secured by ascrew 43 upon the cabinet wall. worm wheel44 of small size is located between the worms 33 and 34, and is constantly in engagement with them both.- The worm wheel'44 carries and'is spaced mid way between a pair of guide wheels 45, each having the form of a disk, the worm wheel and the two guide wheels being mounted The worm wheel rolls bodily to the right or leftaccording to Figure 1, the direction and extent of its rotation being controlled by movements of the worms 33 and 34, 01 by theindividual movement of either one of these worms as the case may be, depending upon the conditlon of the mechanism, and this condition changesfrom time to time.

A rocking arm 47 is provided with a slot 48, as shown more particularly inFigure 1, the arm being so positioned that'the shaft I46extends through it at all times. The

rocking arm 47 is provided with a sector 49 integral with. 1t, and having the form shown 1n Figure 1. The rocking arm and sector 49 are mounted upon a shaft 50,

serving as a pivot.

The sector 49 engages the pinion 51,

' mountedupon a shaft'5 2, this shaft extending through the cabinet wall and also through a dial 53, mounted upon the front face of the wall, as may be understood from Figure 6. The shaft 52 carries a pointer 54, so arranged that by the rocking of the shaft 52 back and forth, the point 54 is moved around over the face of the dial 53.

For the purpose of enabling the positions 7 and movements of the pointer 54 relatively to the dial 53"to be easily observed and measured, I provide the dial 53 with'numeu als, as shown in Figure 6,*the numerals in this particular instance ranging from 1 to 23 inclusive, and I further provide an index mark 55, 1n this instance having substantially a V-form, serving as a zero point, or

by Y

in practice, the worm wheel 44 occupies its extreme position to the left according to Figure 1; and when the winding mechanism is fully wound up, that is, to the maxinmm permitted in practice, the worm wheel 44 occupies its extreme position to the right according to this figure. In accordance with these movements of the worm wheel, and dependent thereupon, the pointer 54 registers a zero indication whenever the worm wheel 44 occupies its extreme posijust described, and on the other hand registers a maximum indication whenever the worm wheel 44 reaches the limit of its travel to the rightaccording to this figure.

tion' to the left according to Figure 1 as The extreme movements just described 3 for the pointer, and an infinite number of such other movements intermediate the extremes mentioned, may readily be traced by simply following out the co-relation, of

thevarious movable parts.

Suppose that the hand crank 13 is turned. Tts rotation being clockwise, the shaft'lQ and the gear wheel 17 must turn in the same direction. This causes the annular gear member 18 andcasing member 19toturn,

turns the pinion 28 in the same direction that i the hand crank 13 is turning. The pinion 28 turns the pinion 37 and the worm shaft 33 in a counter clockwise direction, reckoning from the viewpoint of a person standing adjacentthe hand crank 13 in Figure 1, and looking to the left according to this figure. The worm 33 continuesto turn only so long as the hand crank 13v is being turned, and

thus the rotation of the worm 33 stops ab'- ruptly at any instant whenever froniiany cause the operator stops turning the hand crank.

- The rotation of the worm 33, as just described, turns the worm wheel 44 in a'clockwise direction according to Figure 1. Hence, this worm gear must roll bodily to the right according to Figure 1.

Suppose, next, that the motor mechanism is completely wound, and is running. The shaft 12 and all parts driven thereby being now motionless; the worm 33 isstationary. However, the casing member 21 and the annular gear member 22 are moving in the direction indicated for these parts by an arrow shown for the purpose in Figure 1 gear wheel 23 being driven in the reverse direction, the pinion 39 is of course turning in a clockwise direction and the pinion 38 The in a counter clockwise direction, from the viewpoint of an observer standing near the hand crank 13. The counter-clockwise rotati on of the worm 34, as just described, tends to carry the worm wheel at bodily to the left according to Figure 1..

Thus the rotation of the worm 34-, incidental to the unwinding of the spring, 15 in the contrary direction to that of the rota- .manner, the worm wheel 4% rolls bodily to the right according to Figure 1, and the pointer 54turns 1n a'clockwise direction according to Figure 6. When, however, the

spring runs down the worm wheel 44 moves back to the left according to Figure 1, and as a consequence the pointer '54: turns in a counter-clockwise direction according to Figure 6 back tot-he zero point whenceit started.

The operation of my device may be readily understood from the foregoing description.

In practice, "the operator glances at the dial mechanism shown in Figure 6, and thus ascertains whether or not any winding of the motor spring is necessary, and if so about how many turns of the hand crank are needed. This done, hegrasps the hand crank and turns it accordingly, keeping his eye on the dial mechanism.

Again, if one phonographic record is finished and another one is about to be started, the operator by glancing at the dial mechanism can form an idea as to whether or not the mechanism should be rewound before starting to play the new record.

I do not limit myself to the precise mechanism shown and described, as variations may be made therein without departing from invention, the scope of which is commensw rate with my claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. The combination of winding mecha- IllSI'll, a spring motor, driven mechanism connected with said spring motor and actuated thereby as the spring of said motor unwinds, a flexible shaft connected with said winding mechanism, another flexible shaft formed out of said driven mechanism, a pair of woms, one connected with the first mentioned shaftand driven thereby, the other connected with said second mentioned flexible shaft thereby driven, a worm wheel engaging both of said worms and revoluble under the joint control thereof, so that rotation of one of said flexible shafts moves said worm wheel in one direction and rotation of the other of said flexible shaft moves said Another way of worm wheel in theopposite direction, arocking shaft connected with said worm Wheel and movable back and forth as said worm wheel is moved back and forth, and indicator 'm-echa-nism connected with said rocking shaft and movable therewith;

2. The combination of winding mechanis'm, a spring motor, driven mechanism connected with said spring motor-and actuated thereby as the spring of said motor unwinds, a flexible shaft connected with said winding mechanism and driven thereby, another flexible shaft formed out of said driven mechanism and actuated by movements of said driven mechanism, a pointer movable in two directions, connections from said pointer to one of said flexible shafts for enabling said pointer to be driven in one direction of its travel, and connections from saidpointer to the other of said shafts for enabling-said *1 pointer to be driven in the opposite direction of its travel.

3. The combination of winding mecha nism, a spring motor, driven mechanism connected with said spring motor and actuated thereby, a flexible shaft connected with said winding mechanism and driven thereby so as to turn whensaid winding .mechanism is being wound, another flexible shaft formed out of said driven mechanism and actuated thereby so as to turn continuously while the spring of said motor unwinds, a worm connected with first mentioned flexible shaft and thereby driven in one direction of rotation, another worm connected with said second mentioned flexible shaft and thereby driven in the same direct-ion of rotation as that of first mentioned worm, a worm wheel engaging both of said worms and movable bodily along the same in one direction when said winding mechanism is being wound and in the opposite direction when the spring of said motor is being unwound, rocking mechanism connected with said worm wheel and movable back and forth by movements thereof, and a movable pointer connected with said rocking mechanism for registering in-.'

nism, a spring motor,'driven mechanism connected with said spring motor and actuated thereby, a flexible shaft connected with said winding mechanism and driven thereby so as to turn when said winding mechanism is being wound, another flexible shaft formed out of said driven mechanism and actuated thereby so as to turn continuously whilethe spring of said motor unwinds, a worm connected with first mentioned flexible shaft and thereby driven in one direction of rotation, another worm connected with said second'mentioned'flexible shaft and thereby driven in the same directionof rotation as that of first mentioned worm, a worm Wheel engaging both of said worms and movable bodily along the same in one direction when f said Winding mechanism is being wound and in the opposite direction When the spring of said motoris unwinding, and mechanism connected w tl'rsaid Worm wheel and actu ated thereby for registeringindications as to the condition of the said spring motor.

5. The combination of a Winding mechanism, a spring motor, drlven mechanism connected by said spring motor and actuated thereby-a flexible shaft connected with said Winding mechanism and driven by sald Winding mechanism, said flexible shaft being hollow, a second flexible shaft extending through first mentioned shaft and formed out ofsaid driven mechanism and actuated thereby, a pair of revoluble Worm shafts connected with and driven by said flexible shafts. so as to turn in the same direction, a

worm Wheel engaging both of said Worm f shafts and movable bodily in the direction f the lengththereof, one of said Worm 'sh'afts tending to roll said Worm Wheel in one direction and the other of said Worm shafts tending to roll said Worm Wheel in the opposite direction, a rocking shaft con nected With said Worm Wheel and adapted to be rocked by the movements of said Worm Wheel lengthwise of said Worm shafts, a movable pointer, and connections from said rocking shaft to'said pointer.

6. The combination'ofa winding mechanected by said spring motor and actuated thereby, a flexible shaft connected with said Winding mechanism and driven by said the length thereof, one of said Worm shaftstending to roll said Worm Wheel in one direction and the other of said Worm shafts tending to roll said Worm Wheel in the op posite direction, and mechanism controllable by said Worm Wheel for registering-indications;

Sigi'ied at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, this 13th day of December, 1923.

LOUIS HILL.

nism, a spring motor, driven mechanism con i 

